J.C. Leyendecker: American Imagist

I attended the recent show at the New York Historical Society showing Leyendecker's work. It was small, but well worth seeing. In advance, I wanted to learn more about the artist, and this book does an amazing job. Although Leyendecker let a rather reclusive life and didn't leave much for biographers to comb through, the authors of this book found just about every item about his family, life and work as an artist. They give a really full picture of the man, how he become a first rate illustrator, and was a the forefront of many new trends. First, the quality of the book itself is high. The colors are saturated and the images are well printed to see detail. Second, text is well written and balanced. Third, I really learned a lot about the graphic arts industry during his lifetime, how it changed it, how important it was to American life, and how the medium changed forever. It was a real eye-opener. The actual images are beyond gorgeous. The drawn men are what every man wants to be -- handsome, virile, and a consummate gentleman. The details of the images are jaw dropping in their virtuosity, and you wonder how any human could draw so convincingly.

After reading so many negative reviews I have to say I expected to receive a sloppy, handwritten mess of a book..I am happy to say that is DEFINITELY NOT THE CASE! The illustrations are wonderful and the research that had to be done to compile this magnificent tribute was well beyond my expectations. I have to wonder, as I was scouring the book , what in the world was so wrong with the writing. Each section was thoughtfully worded and many details were fascinating and I am certain to be fact. I guess I am not that well versed on what a writers skill or wording SHOULD be but I must say I was thrilled to learn more about many of the details of "Joe's" life so long now private. I found myself overjoyed and many of the images I had never seen which was even more exciting! I was even more elated that they seem to start at the beginning and follow to the end of his career. In my eyes, it is all perfection. Again, I am only speaking as a Leyendecker fan, not as some prolific writer or art critic. Seems to me that if you want a beautiful reference book on his many beautiful works and at least want to have some insight on the man behind the masterpieces, this would be a wonderful choice for you. I am sure they may be some details that may not be 100% accurate but I do not get the feeling that the author believes that each detail is fact, as there were so many private moments throughout Layendeckers life. If you are looking for a book to enjoy and to share with others , this is a great read. Thanks to all of those who were a part of the making.! I feel a little closer to the legend than I ever have...! I am ordering a few more for gifts! Just the time to gather all of these beautiful works of art is well worth the price!

This book is definitely worth it if only for the quality of the illustrations. Some people in these reviews point out some inaccuracies in the text regarding either the authenticity of some paintings, some details about Leyendecker's life and that of his contemporaries and some interpretations regarding his real influence on the American psyche. A lot of people seem to take issue with the central role the authors give to Leyendecker's life-long relationship with Charles Beach and with his sexual orientation in general as if it permeated everything he did. If anything, I wish the text had had a little bit more information on the actual techniques and methods of creation. Some hints are given but it would have been nice to find out about the actual studio and his materials. Also, it would have been of great help to determine where the paintings are located today. May be even more interesting than describing the fate of Mount Tom's. Leyendecker's residence. Despite this voids, the artwork of J.C. Leyendecker is so splendid that a book like this, that has achieved the best reproductions to date in this sort of tome, must be at the top of my list. And some of the author's interpretations are their own to have, I certainly agree that homoeroticism permeates a big part of the artwork and that Leyendecker helped settled many of the archetypes we see as American today. I do not take issue with that and I think the authors have a right to a certain point of view even when they do not have the right to add extraneous details, specially with no documentation.

This book is amazing! It has many different works of his and also has his life story and stories about the people closest to him. It serves as a slight biography of him, and it’s very cool to learn more about my favorite dead artist!

A great book for anyone who loves this era of illustration, poster art, fashion art, or basically how we bridged the aesthetic gap between Alphons Mucha to Norman Rockwell being the most popular and reproduced aesthetics of their own eras. Plus the book has a good story about the authors life, but mostly this is just a beautiful looking coffee book table; a little pricey but it at least shows with the high quality of the paper and the vivid color and high number of gorgeous images.

It is a very valuable addition to the extremely limited number of works (books or videos), done on one of the greatest painters/illustrators in America. It provides us with an impressive number of high quality reproductions of Leyendecker's paintings. Through the reproductions, one can see the outstanding skills and techniques that he mastered to an astonishing degree. They also show the attention he paid to detail. Some of the most interesting reproductions are of detailed studies in oil on canvas (which, incidentally, sometimes rival the finished paintings!!), showing the kind of research, time, and effort he put in his art. Finally, we can easily see why his work had gained the admiration of all Americans: not only his models were extremely handsome (especially Charles Beach, his favorite model and life companion), but they were exquistely elegant, with style and sophistication. In the absence of motion pictures, TV, and colored photos, one could imagine the effect of these fabulous illustrations on the American public in the first half of the 20th Century. The book also gives extremely interesting and rare insight into Leyendecker's life, especially his young years. Very little is known about him since he was an extremely private person, and especially that he ordered that his photos and other memorabilia would be burned after his death. Thus, we discover (for the first time, I beleieve!!), that his family was of German origin, and not Dutch as it was previously believed. We also learn about the unfortunately difficult relations inside his family, especially the sad developments in the life of his brother Frank (a brilliant artist in his own right), and the extreme tension between him and Charles Beach. We also have a glimpse of his wonderful sister Mary, who dedicated her whole life to her two brothers: Joe and Frank. Finally we also discover that they had a fourth sibling: a brother ... also an artist!! The only thing missing which I would have liked to see is an indication of where the original paintings are now.

This book contains rare, excellent color reproductions of not only most of Leyendecker's finished illustrations but also many of his preliminary studies. I find this a wonderful surprise because I had thought a lot of his originals were sold and virtually lost after his death. As an art student in the 1950s, I first discovered Lyendecker's work while studying illustrations in bound volumes of the Saturday Evening Post in a library. I have been a fan of his work throughout my career. The authors have presented a fairly detailed story of Leyendecker's life. This again is a surprise because he was a very private person, living in seclusion after 1930. The authors place too much emphasis on the fact that he was a homosexual. They interpret some as his work as being a homosexual statement of some sort. They are way off in this conclusion, as they are in much of the text, inserting their opinions into biographical writing. Leyendecker had a lot to do with the growing power of advertising but he was not the only force at that time. The authors give JC and Arrow Shirts too much credit regarding the establishment of branding in marketing. Coca-Cola, Ford and a few others had a little influence also. The authors are much too critical of Norman Rockwell and his relationship with Leyendecker. Leyendecker was Rockwell's idol. Rockwell was one of the few people who attended JC's funeral. Rockwell admits that, as a young illustrator, he tried to emulate Lyendecker's style. By 1916 Rockwell was a Post cover artist himself and he soon fell into his own way of working. While Rockwell thought so much of Leyendecker and his work, he did not personally approvel of his life style. This is a first rate book --in spite of the text--because it is a marvelous, rich collection of work by one of America's greatest illustrators. Paul Sullivan

Having waited for YEARS for a good book on Leyendecker, the wait is over. I am very happy with this product. The reproductions are very good. While the book does catalog all of the artists covers (SEP, Colliers, etc), the result is well done. Typically, there are nine covers on one page and on the facing page is a repo of the actual artwork from one of the covers. I think almost all of the full page images reproduced are from original artwork, and not reproductions of magazine covers. Very nice. Sure... it would be great to have all of the covers shown in full page glorious color, but we dont and we wont. It still deserves five stars. There are many "sketches" in oil shown that were created as studies, many of which are stunning in and of themselves. Also shown are advertising illustrations. Great! Regarding the text, move on if your are looking for detail on the artist life. There is really nothing new here. There has always been little know about the artist and his boyfriend. Leyendecker was a profoundly private person, the result of which is that there is little personal information available. What is written is interesting, but of minor interest. Who is buying this book for the text? Please. But as it now stands, this one is easily worth the price and five stars!